MUSIC AND POETRY

Tears of Dirt

A field of vision
a stone fits into a
fist of a child.

Close to ground
a stone is rubbed
against a child’s
lips, near a tongue
as she creeps near
bushes with thorns.

A child knows not
about a thorn, a
spider in its’ web
of sharp sticks
in green grass –

a shadow - made
a child cry when
lost - inside a garden
no way out.

a body rocks back
and forth on knees
to reach a place to
sit –

nothing in a garden
made a child smile,
no one to feed her,
hand a bottle.

falling onto
knees - rocking
back and forth
until asleep.

On top of
prickly pines
sleeping while
a world disappears

Three years old
at a crossroad
she chooses to sleep
in the center of nothing

on dirt - pebbles
caught between naked
toes - dirt lines
tiny finger nails

Awake, she rubs her
face - streaks of dirt
now dirt of tears...
She rocks back and forth

her head falls forward
her body limp -
falls a few feet from
stone -

never found her way
home.

Nancy Duci Denofio
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